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Not trying to be a jerk, and I've got no dog in this fight, but I think there are a few things on modern cars that have solved old mechanical necessities and eventually they get to the point where no dual-functionality is needed. Power windows work. No need to put handcranks in there as a backup anymore.

Certainly there will be people with compromised eyesight to whom a darker mirror reduces visibility. BMW offers the standard manual day/night mirror, no? It's what I had on my E90.

BJ

Power windows are not really analogous to the autodimming mirrors. Power windows are controlled by the driver (and passengers). The car does not automatically raise and lower the windows based on conditions and if it did a manual override would be necessary.

A better analogy would be automatic on/off headlights or autodimming mirrors. Most of the time these are set it and forget it systems but there are times where you need to override the system because what the car did was not approriate to the situation.

The same holds true of the autodimming mirrors. The majority of the time the system works perfectly but there are situations where the mirrors are dimmed and I don't want them to be and I want the ability to override the system. Some drivers would perhaps never use an override feature and some would keep the system permanently disabled but I want the ability to determine when I want the mirrors to dim automatically.

I have never heard of a car with power windows that had handcranks as a backup system.

True, but it sort of supports my theory that if BMW believes very strongly that they've solved a problem, they move on. If they believe they've got something that needs a little field-experience and/or it's a big safety concern, they give an easy out.

Another way to view it: If ASS wasn't defeatable, people wouldn't buy the car. The rearview mirror works automatically and doesn't need to be defeated because it's not a dealbreaker to a sale.

True, but it sort of supports my theory that if BMW believes very strongly that they've solved a problem, they move on. If they believe they've got something that needs a little field-experience and/or it's a big safety concern, they give an easy out.

Another way to view it: If ASS wasn't defeatable, people wouldn't buy the car. The rearview mirror works automatically and doesn't need to be defeated because it's not a dealbreaker to a sale.

If ASS wasn't defeatable, people wouldn't buy the car. The rearview mirror works automatically and doesn't need to be defeated because it's not a dealbreaker to a sale.

I understand your thinking, but I doubt BMW has or would lose sales whether or not either feature can be defeated. There is some hyperbolic speech here as to such issues, but this is unlikely to result in action in the real world.

It continues to surprise me that BMW (and its apologists) claims to be in the forefront of technology, yet fails to offer features that other manufacturers have already had - and then does not implement them as well. A.S.S. is a great example. The failure to include a dimming mirror off switch is another. (The feature works well, but the lack of a switch fails to allow for driver preference - one of the reasons for buying a luxury car.)